Walter Mildmay — a highly respected counselor even though
he was a younger son — may have been William Cecil, Baron Burghley’s,
closest personal friend. Their surviving
letters suggest as much. Mildmay’s appointment as Under Treasurer and Sub-Chancellor
of the Queen’s Exchequer, and member of the Privy Council, in 1566, may point
to the two already long having been friends — perhaps even from the end of the
reign of Henry VIII when the young Mildmay clerked under his much older brother[1]
who was the Auditor of the Court of Augmentations.
Mildmay also married Mary Walsingham[2],
sister to the famous Francis, ambassador, eventually Principal Secretary to the
Queen, and always master of a network of spies.
Burghley and Walsingham both had their own networks, Cecil’s less spies
than informants. They seem often to have
shared in directing each other's operators. Nevertheless, Walsingham grew more closely
allied to the Earl of Leicester, in time, in a clique intended to outweigh the
enormous influence of the Baron in favor of more aggressive policies.
Regardless of Mildmay’s family connection to Walsingham, he
remained allied to Burghley. Quietly and in a subordinate role as always. His
unwillingness to show himself off may have been the reason he never reached the
highest echelon in Elizabeth’s government. Even at Burghley’s table, he is said to have participated in conversation but to have spoken
little.
The passage on Burghley’s son-in-law, the Earl of Oxford,
here, refers to his unauthorized escape to the Low Countries. Ever more
frustrated at having the Queen’s permission to travel to Europe continually postponed, he crossed
the Channel without it. He returned soon after and was forgiven by Her Majesty
with an ease that belies his remarkable personal favor with her.
Dated from Apthorp, the 27th of July, 1574.[3]
I humblie thanke you, my very good Lord, that it pleased you
to bestow so large a letter uppon me of your hand, and therby to let me
understand how thyngs passe above, and specially the King of Spaine's sending
to entertayne assured amyty with her Majestie, which I will hope is so meant. And
yet there is no dowbte but her Majestie's experience is such, as she seeth that
necessitie is the cause of these fair speeches at thys tyme, and therefore her
Majestie doeth well to provide for the worst, for surely your Lordship knoweth better
then I, that longer than you be jealouse of their doings, longer you cannot be
sure from hurt from them. The stay of the shippes is a good stay to your
cofers. I pray God it prove as well for her Majestie's service and sauffety.
For the latter parte of your Lordship's letter, I do
eftsones most hartelie thank you in that it pleased you to save me from so ill
a jurney as I was nere. Surely, according to my most bounden dewty, I am and
will be ready to serve her Majestie when and where she will command, but for my
coming to London at thys tyme, your Lordship hath answered sufficeable for her
Majestie's service, and most frendely for me.
My coming home being so late, and the tyme of the year such
as I am not the fittest to travayle in, therefore, my good Lord, I beseeche you
contynew that mynd towards my stay here, as you have begunne: and I shall be
bound to you for that, as I am already in many things, and be ready in that
little I can do for you or any of yours, either here or in any other place: for
so you have given me just cause, which I may never forget.
Of my Lord of Oxford's returne I am glad to heare. I trust this
little jorney will make him love home the better herafter. It were great pytie
he shold not go strayt, there be so many good things in hym, to serve God and
his Prince.
I pray God send to your Lordship, and all yours, even as I
wyshe to myn owne hart. And so praying to be commended to my good Lady, I end
troubling your Lordship any further at this present.
From Apthorp, the 27th of July, 1574.
Your good Lordship's bounden to command,
Wa. Mildmay.
I hoped to have seen your Lordship here this sommer, and so
I trust I may do yet.
[1] St.
John-Mildmay. A Brief Memoir of the
Mildmay family (1913). 36. “THE most famous of the brothers of the Auditor was Walter, generally styled of Apethorpe,
Northamptonshire.” The name “Thomas” was so common in the Mildmay family that
the Auditor is often mistaken for his father.
[2] I
have yet to discover a documentary source for this claim. It seems so common, however, that it is certain
to be true.
[3] Queen
Elizabeth and her time, a series of original letters, I.506-7.
Also at Virtual Grub Street:
- Edward de Vere, Shakespeare and Tycho Brahe. June 9, 2020. “When Brahe was encouraged by his friends and associates to publish a book on the November 1572 supernova for which he is now famous, his answer belonged to his times.”
- What About Edward de Vere’s Twelfth Night of 1600/01? January 28, 2020. “Leslie Hotson, who brought the Orsino-Orsino coincidence to the attention of the Nevillians seems to have made one particular mistake that is all to our point.”
- What Color Were Shakespeare’s Potatoes? July 27, 2019. “By the year 1599-1600, when Shakespeare’s play would seem to have been written, the potato was available in London. It was considered a delectable treat and an aphrodisiac.”
- Gossip as History: Anne Boleyn, Part 1. November 8, 2019. “This is more than just gossip, I submit. It is a vital part of the historical record.”
- Check out the English Renaissance Article Index for many more articles and reviews about this fascinating time and about the Shakespeare Authorship Question.
- Check out the English Renaissance Letter Index for many letters from this fascinating time, some related to the Shakespeare Authorship Question.
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